SILK ROAD

Exotic, middle-eastern in parts, the silk road is steeped in history. Great hotels and wonderful food and people make this journey a trip to remember always.

Day One: Melb/Beijing via Singapore

Meet at the airport at 21:30. Leave Melbourne at 00:05 by SQ218. Arrive Singapore at 06:00, transit by SQ802, arrive in Beijing at 14:55. Picked up by tour guide and transferred to hotel to rest after your trip. At 17:30, collected by guide and taken to dinner. After dinner, enjoy the lights of Beijing and see Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City as you drive by. Just a taste of the capital city as you return to your hotel to rest after your long day.(D)

Day 02: Beijing/Urumqi

Fly to Urumqi by CA1901 at 09:55, arrive at 14:05. Met by tour guide and transferred to hotel. After rest, enjoy dinner and a minority dance for your evening's entertainment. (B,L,D)

Urumqi- Capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, it is 900 metres above sea level. 2.8 million live in the city (80% Han Chinese). There are many mosques and bazaars.

Day 03: Urumqi/Kashgar

Spend some more time in Urumqi. Visit a Minority Peoples' kindergarten. Red Mountain Park gives you a wonderful view of the city, and is an easy climb. Fly to Kashgar by CZ6805 at 15:20 and arrive at 17;05. Transfer to hotel and dinner. (B,L,D)

Day 04: Kashgar

Sightseeing in Kashgar. The Da Ba Za Sunday market includes the animal market. The Mosque, the old city and the Mausoleum are all highlights. (B,L,D)

Day 05: Kashgar

Day tour to Karakul Lake, a beautiful lake in the Kunlun Mountains. The scenery is wonderful and we will have many chances to stop the coast to take photographs. Along the way, you can see parts of the old Silk Road, and in one part the caravanserai which was used as a stopping place- protected by stone walls as wolves and other predators would have attacked the horses, camels and - people. You will see Tajik, Urdu and Kazakh people. (B,L,D)

Day 06: Kashgar/Urumqi/Turpan

Fly to Urumqi by CZ6804 at 11:00 and arrive at 12:45. In the afternoon, city tour and visit the Provincial Museum. This is one of the tour highlights, as the Museum contains relics from local past civilizations . There are mummies which were discovered in the desert not far from Urumqi. These remains are of non-Chinese people, and their DNA, woven garments and appearance lead experts to believe that these people were Celtic. There are also textiles and other treasures. Coach to Turpan before dinner. (B,L,D)

Day 07: Turpan

Visit Grape Valley, and see the vines and "shadow houses" used for drying the grapes. See the Karez system of bringing mountain water in underground channels to Turpan. Observe Uighur life and if we are lucky, visit a Uighur family. Go to Jiaohe old city, a garrison town established in the Han Dynasty, made of rammed earth and bricks. A minority dance this evening for your entertainment. ( B,L,D)

Day 08: Turpan/ Dunhuang

Visit the ruins of Gaochang, 25 kms SE of Turpan. This was once a large city. A donkey cart will transport you part of the way ( included in cost ). Next, Astan or Astana ancient tombs, which were the burial grounds for Gaochang. There are over 500 tombs and 3 tombs are open to the public. There are mummies here as well, Chinese officials. Flaming Mountains are a range of bare sandstone mountains, they featured in the famous story, A Journey to the West (remember Monkey Magic ?). Leave for Dunhuang by train (soft sleeper), dinner and breakfast will be arranged by ourselves on the train. We can buy some supplies in Turpan. (maybe some soup or supplies from home?) (B,L,D)

Day 09: Dunhuang

Arrive in the morning and visit Mogao Grottoes also known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, this is a highlight of the tour, and we will spend the whole day there. There are 492 caves, 30 are open to the public. First cave is said to be built by an early Buddhist monk in AD 366. The last ones were carved out at the time of the Mongolian Conquest in 1277. Enjoy show in the evening. (L,D)

Day 10: Dunguang/Jiayuguan

Visit Singing Sand Mountain, a mountain range of pure sand, and Crescent Moon Pool which is close by and the White Horse Pagoda. You can take a camel to enjoy all these features. The cost is around AUD20. There are around 1,200 camels waiting to take you up to the top of the high dunes! Bactrian camels- two humps. Leave for Jiayuguan by coach in the afternoon. (B,L,D)

Day 11: Jiayuguan

Visit the western end of the Great Wall, which is 1,800 metres above sea level, completed 4 years after the rise of the Ming Dynasty. On top of the Wall are 17 metre high towers. (B,L,D)

Day 12: Jiayuguan/Lanzhou

Visit Jiayuguan city. After lunch transfer to airport and leave for Lanzhou by FM9147 at 15:40, arrive at 16:55. Met by tour guide and transferred to hotel after dinner. (B,L,D)

Day 13: Lanzhou

Lanzhou is where our Silk Road journey ends. Visit Bing Ling Temple- Buddhist grottoes, carvings and niches formed into porous cliffs - cliffs are 20 metres high. Five Spring Mountain, then Gansu Museum has wooden tablets which were used to relay messages along the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, 10,000 pieces of painted pottery, A complete fossil of a mammoth, and the famous Flying Horse of Wuwei - and heaps more. White Cloud Temple is a renovated Qing Dynasty temple (Taoist) which overlooks the famous Yellow River. (B,L,D)

Day 14: Lanzhou/Beijing

Visit Liu Jia Xia Dam in morning. Transfer to airport and depart for Beijing by CA1272 at 15:20, arrive at 17:25. Have dinner at Beijing airport, and back to Melbourne via Singapore (SQ801 at 00:15, arrive Singapore at 06:30).

Day 15: Singapore /Melbourne

Transit in Singapore by SQ217 and leave at 09:55. Arrive Melbourne at 19:15.

Cost of tour : Will depend on size of group and seasonal factors.

Notes

This itinerary may change because of circumstances beyond the control of the organisers.